This invention relates to a hand operated press for reloading cartridges used in pistols and rifles. The press performs the usual functions of removing spent primers from cartridges, inserting new primers, sizing the cartridges, refilling them with powder and inserting bullets in them.
Reloading presses typically comprise a base in which a ram is reciprocated vertically with a manually operable lever system. In one known type of press, a turret that has the dies or tools for performing the aforementioned reloading operations is supported in a ring above the base and the ram for manual indexing or rotation about a vertical axis. In this kind of reloading press, the spent cartridge is mounted in a holder at the upper end of the ram so that when the ram is driven upwardly, the cartridge will engage with a die for performing one of the reloading operations. After each operation, the turret is turned manually to align a different die with the cartridge on the ram for performing the next operation in the sequence leading to the final operation which is to insert a bullet in the cartridge.
As is evident, a turret press even though it requires manual indexing, permits loading cartridges faster than a single operation press because all of the dies can be mounted on the turret and progressively rotationally indexed over the ram to perform all of the reloading operations without removing the cartridge from the holder.
In another known type of turret press, the dies or tools are mounted in a fixed die head above the ram and the dies are arranged in a circle. In this case, a turret is mounted on the ram and is adapted to hold at least as many circularly arranged cartridges as there are dies on the head. Everytime the ram is retracted to near the lower limit of its stroke, the turret is rotated manually so that all cartridges on it will orbit about a vertical axis to align sequentially with the various dies in which case at least one reloading operation will be performed on each cartridge in the turret for every upstroke of the ram.
It has long been recognized that if the turret were automatically indexed, the reloading process could be expedited and made easier for the operator. Automatic turret indexing mechanisms have been developed. They are generally complex and expensive and not capable of being retrofitted to existing manually indexed turret presses. One is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,078,472.